The following is from veteran Andy John Catton:
Last Sunday morning an event took place that was something me and my fellow veterans will never forget. While some of us waited on the sidewalk outside the Ladner Legion to form up for our march to Memorial Park, a number of young gals, I think they were Brownies, handed out handmade cards with words of thanks. I was so moved as were my fellow veterans that I wrote a verse of thanks.
These lines I write are an appropriately special thanks
From those of us of lessening ranks
We are your veterans of a bygone age
Some 70 years passed since we were fighting so far from home
Be it in the air or land or above or under that salty foam
We sadly gather fewer of us than in past years
Soon none of us from this wartime period will be here alas
But it was as we stood waiting in the cold
To form up and parade down the road We were approached by the very youngest of folk
They handed us veterans handmade paper cards
With words inside that truly touch our hearts
These token of thanks we shall all hold so dear
Of us folk now in our fading bygone years
Many a veteran had a teary eye in that it cannot be denied
But these token lifted many a heavy sadden heart that day
As our minds were filled with thoughts about those so far away
Who now lie in ageless sleep? Be it in the ground or in the waters dark and deep
Knowing that as we get fewer by the years
Of deeds it is being thought of by so young That filled our hearts truly with cheer
No words can express truly the heartfelt thanks
By us bygone veterans in our diminishing ranks
What we and our pals did was not in vain so long ago
In that if they too were here today like us they just like to say
Thank you, thank you once again for your thoughts
In your handmade card touch many a veteran's heart
So much so I shall keep and may even frame
So to you from us all it thank YOU once again
